On Tuesday following the scuffle between the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees, Rays' manager Joe Maddon had some comments about Chase Headley's injury. Headley was hit in the face by Rays' reliever Jake McGee last week. This incident occurred just minutes before Giancarlo Stanton's horrific hit to the face. Both the Rays and the Yankees had already had words exchanged about both organizations. The Tuesday scuffle certainly didn't help the cause. Joe Girardi made a comment saying "If you are going to pitch inside, learn how to pitch inside," Girardi said. "You pitch down in the zone. You don't pitch up. This

Joe Girardi made a comment saying, "If you are going to pitch inside, learn how to pitch inside. You pitch down in the zone. You don't pitch up. This is not practice. This is guys' livelihood." Joe Maddon responded to those comments with this "I agree with everything he said, but to pitch inside correctly or incorrectly, that's not the point," Maddon said. "It is called baseball; sometimes hitters get hit. But I understand their frustration entirely. We are not going to apologize for it because it is part of the game. But I do get why he was upset."

Joe Maddon responded to those comments with this: "I agree with everything he said, but to pitch inside correctly or incorrectly, that's not the point," Maddon said. "It is called baseball; sometimes hitters get hit. But I understand their frustration entirely. We are not going to apologize for it because it is part of the game. But I do get why he was upset."

Joe Maddon's comments certainly didn't end the situation. Chase Headley had this to say about the Rays: "You shouldn't be in the big leagues if you keep doing that consistently," Headley said. "I mean, guys are throwing too hard with too good a stuff. Granted, I know that balls get away every now and then. I get it. It can't keep happening. If a guy can't control the fastball, he can't pitch in there. He can't be in the game. He can't be in the big leagues because guys' careers are at stake. You can't have it happen. Again, I don't think there is intent, but that doesn't change what can possibly happen."

In the postgame show, Maddon said that he talked about a pitch by Rays' reliever Jake McGee that bloodied Headley’s jaw last week and said it “grazed” him. He followed by saying:

“The whole world is about how you choose your words, the meanings of the words, etc. If he’s offended by the word ‘grazed,’ I apologize for that. I didn’t mean any lack-of-respectful way,” he said. “My point was I was happy he wasn’t hit more squarely and hurt on a more permanent basis.”

Maddon added that “hit in the chin” would have been a better choice of words. After a teammate of Headley's told him what Maddon had said Headley wasn't happy.

Headley made a final statement saying:

“I’ve got a lot of color, only some of which you can see,” Headley said. “This is not a pity party. I’m not looking for an apology, that’s not it. It’s more than a graze. I don’t need him to explain himself,” Headley said. “You can look the video and make your own adjective. It could be construed as minimalizing what happened. If Evan Longoria got hit like that, or Ben Zobrist or one of their guys, he wouldn’t have said it.”